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Predator Free Rakiura – Jan 2014 update

The Governance Group for the Predator Free Rakiura project has been established, the members are set out as below:

Sandy King and Jill Skerrett – representing the Stewart Island community

Gail Thompson – representing iwi interests

Stewart Bull – representing iwi (Titi Islands) interests

Leon Fife – representing Rakiura Maori Land Trust

Ali Timms – representing Environment Southland

Bruce Halligan – representing Southland District Council

Paul Norris – representing business interests

Steve Long – representing hunting interests (Southland NZDA)

Garry Neave – representing fishing interests

Gareth Morgan – representing funders

Allan Munn – representing DOC

The first meeting of this group was on Thursday 23 January at the Southland Institute of Technology in Invercargill.

Here are the key messages coming out of the meeting:

The Predator Free Rakiura project is about removing possums, cats and rats from Stewart Island

The meeting was mainly focussed on getting set up, how the Group will function, when they will meet, etc

They had a look at the draft economic appraisal. This still has some work and review due, but will be complete and ready for distribution by March. From a preliminary look, the idea of removing rats, cats and possums from Stewart Island looks good for the economy and job numbers both on Stewart Island and in Southland.

Next meeting will be in March. At this meeting the economic report will be finalised and available. Also, they will look at approaches and options about how to proceed – no decisions have yet been made on how to remove any of these predators.

It will be after this March meeting that they will be starting to discuss this and get input from everyone who has an interest in this project.